Has anyone experience with going without WiFi on board?

[Pushpit]

3 hours ago, napria said:

Pushpit, that’s the true reason I was wondering if I could disconnect.  Our two little boys (Dogs to everyone else), will be watched by our neighbor the first few days of the trip till our daughter can get here and pick them up and take them to our house to watch. But can I send emails from the ship’s “computer lab” to check to make sure the handoff happened and make sure any issues are addressed?  If so, great.  
 

And how does one contact the ship to send a message to me?

This may be easier just to pay one day's charge for handover day, and maybe another day or two if there are any issues. You don't have to decide in advance, you can work tactically and decide on the day. But yes you would either use Starlink wifi on your phone, or go to the library or Connexions to use their computers, but either way you have to pay to use wifi, and the shortest package is 1 day. There is also a one-off "free hour", which is in essence a taster to entice you in to paying, but if you are very disciplined that may be the answer. You can't have a free hour after you have paid to connect to Starlink.

 

If you used the Telenor system instead - which isn't necessarily available in all staterooms, but is certainly fine in many of them and on the open decks - then you are roaming on Telenor. Your phone will just work as normal, so you can ring or send SMS text messages or MMS photos in the normal way, and people can call you (etc) on your normal number. It's crazy expensive but if it's just a few text messages then it's still cheaper than the Essentials package. But you do need to check with your cellphone provider to see what they will charge for Maritime use. For us in the UK they just charge it at a high rate (but not the very highest rate, that honour goes to Belarus roaming). You can also use data on Telenor, but unless it's a very terse WhatsApp exchange with no photos and GIFs, then it's unlikely to be efficient for you.

 

 

[*Miss G*]

Does Telenor kick in on North America or is it Cellular at Sea? Honest question. 

[napria]

I have $10/day international roaming charge with AT&T.  I was hoping to get Canadian cellular service on the St. Lawrence.  But maybe not?

[d9704011]

22 minutes ago, napria said:

Canadian cellular service on the St. Lawrence.

On the river above Riviere-du-Loup.... possibly.  Below there and in the Gulf... not at all likely.  For sure, if you go into a port like Saguenay, no problem.

[Pushpit]

8 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Does Telenor kick in on North America or is it Cellular at Sea? Honest question. 

There are two hardware players in this market. Telenor is a longstanding and large communications provider, it's actually owned by the Norwegian government and started off as a telegraph company in 1855, and provides landline services to people who live in Norway. Clearly it's evolved with the times, so it's now more of a global cell provider, including to maritime entities and the hundreds of small islands in Norway.

 

WMS is Wireless Maritime Services is much newer, founded in 2004, but they were the pioneers of putting cell systems on cruise ships. They are based in Florida.  Cruise companies simply divide down the line as to whether they use Telenor or WMS. Cunard is Telenor, HAL is WMS, P&O UK is Telenor, and as you can probably guess P&O Australia is WMS. Carnival overall splits over both providers,

 

For both companies, there are a number of marketing outfits which promote maritime cellular packages, and Cellular At Sea is one of a dozen such front-ends, it is just a website for WMS.  Red Bull Mobile e-Sim is a similar one for Telenor. There are other marketing outfits, some tied to WMS or Telenor, others which are third party, which provide for particular niches such as yacht crew, the navy or professional sea-farers.

[exlondoner]

11 hours ago, NE John said:

There is a unique feeling of freedom, during a week-long TA, that there is nothing we can do if anything happens outside of QM2. If we can get over FOMO, I’d like to try no comms at all for a week. 🤔 

I got my first teaching job when someone died. At the time her partner was half way across the Atlantic on QE2. Not sure how he felt about that. Obviously he was informed, but being stuck, unable to do anything was not good.

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, Pushpit said:

There are two hardware players in this market. Telenor is a longstanding and large communications provider, it's actually owned by the Norwegian government and started off as a telegraph company in 1855, and provides landline services to people who live in Norway. Clearly it's evolved with the times, so it's now more of a global cell provider, including to maritime entities and the hundreds of small islands in Norway.

 

WMS is Wireless Maritime Services is much newer, founded in 2004, but they were the pioneers of putting cell systems on cruise ships. They are based in Florida.  Cruise companies simply divide down the line as to whether they use Telenor or WMS. Cunard is Telenor, HAL is WMS, P&O UK is Telenor, and as you can probably guess P&O Australia is WMS. Carnival overall splits over both providers,

 

For both companies, there are a number of marketing outfits which promote maritime cellular packages, and Cellular At Sea is one of a dozen such front-ends, it is just a website for WMS.  Red Bull Mobile e-Sim is a similar one for Telenor. There are other marketing outfits, some tied to WMS or Telenor, others which are third party, which provide for particular niches such as yacht crew, the navy or professional sea-farers.

 

Fascinating, thank you! 

[NE John]

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

I got my first teaching job when someone died. At the time her partner was half way across the Atlantic on QE2. Not sure how he felt about that. Obviously he was informed, but being stuck, unable to do anything was not good.

That’s a sad and unfortunate story to hear but we all take certain risks doing a TA, whether we have WiFi or not. I worry about my 93 year old father every time I go away, whether on land or sea. But there’s nothing anyone can do one your into the “meat” of a TA. 

[exlondoner]

Just now, NE John said:

That’s a sad and unfortunate story to hear but we all take certain risks doing a TA, whether we have WiFi or not. I worry about my 93 year old father every time I go away, whether on land or sea. But there’s nothing anyone can do one your into the “meat” of a TA. 

Absolutely. Actually, I would probably avoid informing someone until they were nearing land, even if wifi was available, as it would be so pointless.

[NE John]

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Absolutely. Actually, I would probably avoid informing someone until they were nearing land, even if wifi was available, as it would be so pointless.

Hence, there is a certain feeling of freedom during a TA without communication. 

Edited September 2 by NE John

[BEAV]

On 8/31/2024 at 2:06 PM, rakkor said:

The app offers nothing that you can't get from other sources, like the printed Daily Programme or talking to a human the the Pursers'/Concierges' desks. 

Confused! 🤔
 

I thought Cunard didn’t have an app. ??? 

[bluemarble]

51 minutes ago, BEAV said:

Confused! 🤔
 

I thought Cunard didn’t have an app. ??? 

 

Cunard has an intranet site called "My Voyage" which you access via your device's browser once on board the ship. That's sometimes referred to as an app, but it's not an app in the conventional sense of something you install from an app store.